Stephen Szucs and
Adam Wright
The Chronicle-Telegram
Forget the relative heat wave we’ve had recently: The snow is back.
Starting this morning, forecasters predict that about a foot of snow could be dumped on Lorain County over the next two days, with weather officials warning against travel today and tonight.
A winter storm warning was in effect until noon Wednesday, and weather officials were warning that wind gusts of up to 30 mph could create near-whiteout conditions tonight.
The National Weather Service forecast called for a high of about 21 degrees today, dipping down to
14 degrees overnight, with between 7 and 14 inches of snow accumulation.
That’s in stark contrast to the 33 degrees we enjoyed Monday afternoon — the warmest it’s been in about two weeks.
But warmer weather didn’t make traveling any easier. Around the county, police and fire departments encountered 14 crashes Monday and expected to handle even more as the snow begins to fall again.
Avon Lake High School students were especially enjoying the warmer temperatures Monday after classes were canceled. A frozen sprinkler that hovered above half the school’s electrical paneling malfunctioned around 4 a.m., spraying the system and shorting it out.
Smoke and water sensors alerted the Avon Lake Fire Department and crews found that a sprinkler head had burst in the rear of the building.
“The sprinkler was near the exterior of the wall and likely froze,” district Superintendent Bob Scott said. “There wasn’t any fire, just a lot of smoke and water.”
Damage was limited to the room and hallway and still was being assessed Monday afternoon.
Scott said school will be back on today, even if it means moving students into the gym and cafeteria — where power remained unaffected — for classes.
“The good part is that the alarms went off,” Scott said.

Lisa Roberson
The Chronicle-Telegram
LORAIN — An Amherst man has been arrested on charges of rape and kidnapping after police say he and another man sexually assaulted a 41-year-old woman, leaving her in Vermilion wearing nothing but a bra and socks.
Allen Miller, 24, was arraigned Monday in Lorain Municipal Court on the two first-degree felony charges. Bond was set at $250,000.
Lorain police Sgt. Mark Carpentiere said police arrested Miller on Friday evening when he was spotted walking down Kolbe Road. Miller became a suspect after Carpentiere said detectives received information that he may be involved in the Jan. 27 rape of a Huron woman.
The woman identified Miller from a photograph as one of the men who assaulted her, Carpentiere said.
The 41-year-old victim told police that early on Jan. 27, two men — a midget and a large man — forced her into a red or maroon minivan at knifepoint on West 17th Street. The woman told police the little man was the driver and the big man was a passenger.
Miller is being looked at as the passenger, Carpentiere said, adding that the “midget” — who still is being sought by police — actually was just a person who was shorter than average.
Carpentiere would not say if Miller knew the victim before the assault.
According to online court records, Miller has a criminal record that includes a pending charge of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle in Lorain Municipal Court, but there are no prior charges that involve violence.
The victim said she was sexually assaulted and then left partially clad near Sunnyside and Brownhelm Station roads in Vermilion.
Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

Brad Dicken
The Chronicle-Telegram
Americans who signed up for a federal prescription drug plan that was supposed to cut their monthly medication costs, were betrayed by their government, according to U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown.
Brown, D-Avon, criticized the so-called “doughnut hole,” a period when many who signed up for the plan have to pay for medication themselves, during a news conference Tuesday.
“Most seniors didn’t expect this, didn’t see this coming,” Brown said.
Under the program, seniors began signing up in January for various insurance plans designed to make drugs more affordable. Medicare covers 75 percent of the cost for the first $2,250 worth of drugs.
Once that mark is hit, coverage stops, at least until the senior has spent a total of $5,100 and Medicare begins paying 95 percent.
It’s the $2,850 gap when seniors get no help — the “doughnut hole” — that is the problem, Brown said.
Brown and his fellow critics argue that for low-income seniors that kind of money can be costly, forcing them to choose which medications to buy or even whether to eat or take their drugs.
“Some are actually paying more than they did before,” said U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., who joined Brown for then conference call.
U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, the Republican Brown is challenging in the Senate race, was not available for comment, but his communications director, Mike Dawson, said the “doughnut hole” is necessary.
“If you want to hold down costs to the federal taxpayer you need it,” he said.
Without that, costs would skyrocket and the bulk of the cost would be picked up by the taxpayers, he said.
“And a lot of people aren’t even going to make it there,” he said.
Brown argued, however, that as many as 7 million Americans are affected by the “doughnut hole.”
Brown and Stabenow said they want to pass legislation closing the “doughnut hole” and allow the government to negotiate with drug companies for lower prices. Brown said he thinks prices could be cut by as much as 60 percent.
But Dawson said that would only pass the cost on to other consumers, who aren’t using Medicare to fund the drug purchases.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.